This is London

Looking South.

YOU CAN CLICK ON THESE PICTURES TO SEE A MUCH LARGER VERSION.

Marilyn and Emily

Charing Cross Station and Hungerford Railway bridge.
Looking North East and the National Theatre in the foreground.
The Eye and County Hall
Beneath The Eye
Looking East. "You can wait all day for a bus and then six come at once."

That's an old joke. Transport in London is excellent.Bus stops these days have electronic screens that keep you up to date with where the buses are and how much longer you have to wait.

The tube and trains are very good too.

If you come to London get yourself a travel card at any rail station. It will cost about £6. You can use it all day up to midnight and travel on buses, tubes and trains around London. It's a great system.

One of the four engines driving the wheel
Looking North West
Looking West
Looking North East
Looking North
Looking East. The building under construction is called The Shard. It's meant to, eventually, resemble a massive broken shard of glass.
Looking down and DO NOT LEAN AGAINST THE DOORS
Inside the capsule
Getting on board

On Saturday I took my first flight on, The London Eye.

I've not been on, The Eye, before, although my wife, Marilyn, and all my children have, on various occasions.

I decided to take a flight this time because I didn't have to pay anything. I know that sounds mean but it does cost £11 an adult. The very long queues have also put me off.

One of my daughters, Emily, has a Saturday job at Chessington World of Adventures, a sort of cut price, Disneyland, a few miles from where I live in Surrey. The company, Merlin, that own Chessington, also own, The Eye. Emily was able to get herself, Marilyn and me, a flight for free with her staff card.

If I'd known what it was going to be like I would certainly have paid my £11 and queued up long before now.It is well worth the price. It was amazing.

Here are some pictures of LONDON!!!!!!!!

A few basic facts about London. It is 2000 years old.It is approximately 26 miles across North to South and approximately 26 miles across East to West. It is changing, adapting, developing and growing all the time. It is like a massive living organism.The population is anything from seven million up to twelve million, depending what and where you decide to start counting.London is made up of towns, villages, cities,countryside, parks and rivers. All life and all creativity goes on here. It is totally AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

The 6th June 1944 D Day THE BRITISH BEACHES

Troops under fire on Sword Beach and the Regimental sergeant major keeping them in check.
Under fire
First landings on Sword
Destruction on Sword at the end of the first day.British troops beginning to move inland.

More troops moving inland. Taking the fight to the Germans.
Gold beach. You can see dead and dieing in this picture.
Gold Beach landings.
Aerial view of Sword Beach on D Day
On D Day, the 6th June 1944 the British and Canadians landed on Sword and Gold beaches whilst the Americans landed on Utah and Omaha beaches.

Here is an account by wireless operator I. G. Holley of the Royal Hampshire Regiment

describing landing on Gold Beach.

The long line of beach lay ahead and immediately behind hung a thick pall of smoke as far as the eye could see, with the flashes of bursting shells and rockets pock-marking it along the whole front. We had the word from the Suby (the Royal Navy Sub Lieutenant commanding their LCA) to get ready and the tension was at its peak when we hit bottom, down goes the ramp, out goes the captain with me close behind. We were in the sea to the tops of our thighs. Floundering ashore, we were in the thick of it. To the right and left the other assault platoons were hitting the beach. Mortar bombs and shells erupting the sand and the ‘breep – brurp’ of Spandau machineguns cutting through the din.

There were no shouts, everyone knew his job and was doing it without saying a word. There was only the occasional cry of despair as men were hit and went down. The beach was filled with half-bent running figures – from experience, we knew that the safest place was as near to Jerry as we could get. A near one blasts sand all over me and my radio set goes dead (during a quiet period later on, I find that shrapnel has riddled my set, and that also a part of my tunic collar has gone). A sweet rancid smell is everywhere, never forgotten by those who smell it – burnt explosives, torn flesh and ruptured earth.

I. G. Holley - wireless operator, 'B' Company 1st Battalion, Royal Hampshire Regiment.

Virginia Woolf's Diary

The plaque commemorating Virgina and Leonard Woolf and their Hogarth Press.
The front door. Some very famous people crossed this threshold.
Hogarth House, Paradise Road, Richmond upon Thames

I've been reading Virginia Woolf's diary recently.As far as diaries go it is a perfect piece of writing, a great diary to read.It's clear and has a smooth effortless quality. She makes you feel that she is actually talking to you. You feel as though you are there with her.

Unfortunately, she was an elitist and looked down at the majority of humanity. She had the bad habit of making people feel small and ignored. Her close associates and friends were all academics and the leading lights of society. She had been abused and so damaged in her childhood. You can understand why she was the way she was.

From 1917 she lived at Hogarth House in Paradise Road, Richmond upon Thames, with her husband Leonard Woolf.There they set up The Hogarth Press, named after the house.

Hogarth House is four miles from where I live on the other side of Richmond Park. Yesterday I cycled to the park, chained my bike to the fence in the car park at the Kingston entrance and then jogged through the park into Richmond.

When I got to Paradise Road I took some pictures of Hogarth House. What fascinated me after reading Virginia's diaries, were the people they had to dinner and who had crossed that threshold into that house.

Some who visited on numerous occasions, were Sydney and Beatrice Webb, the social reformers, Duncan Grant the artist, Lytton Strachey the great Victorian biographer, Gertler, Clive Bell, Roger Fry the art critic, Katherine Mansfield, who was a great friend of Virginia Woolf's, Vita Sackville West, another intimate friend, T.S. Elliot, Aldous Huxley and Maynard Keynes, the world famous economist.He was a close friend of both the Woolfs.Very often these people would come down from London by train to Richmond Station and walk up the road to Hogarth House.

Aldous Huxley and T S Elliot both had their books printed and published from this building as well as Virginia's own novels. Virginia couldn't live in the centre of London, her depressions became worse in the busy city, although she often went up to Bloomsbury on the train. She and Lytton Strachey, after all, were the two main leading lights of the famous Bloomsbury Group. Her sister, Vanessa, had a house in Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, that she would stay at.

Hogarth House is now a solicitors office. If ever it needs a new tenant, a museum to the literatti of the early twentieth century wouldn't be a bad thing.People would be drawn from all over the world I am sure.

SLOW READERS

An article appeared in the G2 section of the Guardian on the 15.7.10. entitled “Read This Slowly.” It was written by Patrick Kingsley.

As a junior schoolteacher for over thirty years, slow reading to me suggests children who have a problem reading and need extra support. However this article is about all of us and our present day reading habits. Research has shown that somebody reading a lengthy online article might only get through a fifth of the article. Somebody reading the same article in hard copy would only get through half. That obviously spurred me on to read the whole of Patrick Kinglsley’s article. It surprised me how my energy levels abated towards the last few paragraphs and I had to really work at it. A little like a mountain climber approaching the peak. It surprises me too that I find myself reading sections of a novel, lets say a chapter of Northangar Abbey, and I wonder, “what was that all about?” Just lately I’m trying to compete with a friend who has told me they read Northangar Abbey in two days and that they have a pile of must read books to get through. “A pile of must read books to get through.” Aaaagh!!!That statement always sends alarm bells ringing. Why don’t I have a pile of books to get through? Am I lacking something? Am I not up to this reading lark? I seem to feel a need to devour certain amounts of words in a sitting when I do read. The thought is I’ve got to get through this quickly. I’m certainly not up to the hundred meter finalist Olympian fast readers standard though. Am I really understanding what a phrase or sentence might mean, engaging with its full weight and purpose in a text? After all the novelist chose every word and crafted every nuance of phrase and sentence for me to react and interact with. You see, to be honest, I’m not a very good fast reader. And I’m not a good slow reader. I’m a bit of a lackadaisical non descript sort of reader really. I do have my bursts of energy though. I’m getting confused now. I mustn’t lose hope.

Patrick Kingsley reports that academics say, “we are becoming less attentive book readers.” Keith Thomas, an Oxford historian complains that, he is, “bemused by junior colleagues who analyse sources with a search engine instead of reading them in their entirety.”

Our need for immediate information is affecting how we use, interpret and assimilate information. We live in a world of Twitter and Sky News where short statements and news bites without analysis and comment rule. We are not engaging with the content.

When we read something we should take time to place it alongside what we know, be able to put it into context, create knew meanings with it.

There is a backlash to this fast consuming of words. A group of academics are starting a slow reading movement. The sort of reading when you take time to contemplate, mull over, and make conclusions. Those who read novels should always have done this. It is the only way to read a novel, isn’t it?. Those who read and reread Jane Austen slowly over the years, will get a different experience each time. They will bring more experiences to their understanding as time goes by, see characters in a different light, understand situations and characters in different ways, interact with the novel in a different way each time.

This does not mean there are not other ways to read. As a teacher I have taught children to read for different purposes. Reading a history book needs a different way of reading to a novel. I would start with a question or a topic to explore. I teach the children to use the index, to find chapters, to focus on paragraphs , to scan for key words, key information and facts and teach them how to make notes. I do not encourage them to read every word, every chapter. Factual books are a resource that can be gone back to again and again for different things. Reading a novel is to experience what the author wants to say and you need to interact with every bit of it because the novel is a whole experience. When I read a flier put through my door, I look at the heading. If I want more I look further. If I read a book of poetry I will focus on one poem at a time and read and reread the poem working out a myriad of responses to it taking in it’s tone and pace, simile, metaphor and the sounds and meaning, of every last little bit of it.

So, we have to choose our method of reading depending on what we are reading. Most of us looking at Jane Austen sites are novel readers .We read Jane Austen’s novels. We should be a slow reader of Jane’s books to be able to interact fully. I know I need to learn again how to be a slow reader. Perhaps I should go back in my mind to when I learned to read, examining words, even the sounds of words and ascertain the tone and mood . I’m not sure I really notice those things as much as I should. I need to see how a paragraph works and what a chapter really does. I need to examine more closely and take a slow leisurely pace. I know I have never had that habit . When writing an essay for an assignment, yes, I’ve taken things slowly with a book and focussed on it with exhausting lazer intensity. In those circumastances I’ve read and reread but only to save my neck, get a reasonable grade, make my tutor smile, but not for me, not unconsciously, not for my own pleasurable development and understanding and relationship with the text. I’ve got that friend who is getting through a pile of books at quite a pace you see, who is egging me on. And what is sad, I’m not a very good fast reader, probably more of a jogger, but I do need to become a slow reader, again.

RANDOM BITS AND PIECES OF BATH

I don't know about you, but when I visit a place, I notice interesting, well interesting to me, bits and pieces, and get an overwhelming urge to photograph them.

Here are some photographs from Bath.

All the best,

Tony

A wall in Bath Abbey

A portion of a wall in Bath Abbey.
Recently I went to Bath. One of the places I visited was Bath Abbey. I have been into many ancient churches over the years and into many Cathedrals, most more than once, Winchester,Wells, Salisbury, Canterbury,Rochester, Westminster Abbey,St Pauls, Chichester, St David's, Manchester, York Minster and the list could go on.However, I have never seen what confronted me on entering Bath Abbey.

All cathedrals and ancient churches have monuments where the rich and famous are remembered and they all have their tombs in the crypt or prominently placed in an aisle or recess .Bath Abbey is unique, however,because so many crowded and massed monuments fill the walls and floor.  The monuments are crammed together. Obviously Bath has been a popular place to die, be remembered and buried in. The ages, and often a mention of where they came from or originated, tells a story. People of a certain age , mid fifties and older, came for the waters to improve their health but died in Bath and so got buried in the Abbey.Others who died in other locations are remembered too on some of the plaques. They either were born and lived in Bath for part of their lives or they felt an affinity with Bath after having visited the city on numerous occasions perhaps.The Abbey is a testimony to the popularity of Bath in the 18th and 19th centuries for the wealthy and god fearing.

Here are a few interesting tomb inscriptions which tell a story to be told.


" Near this stone are deposited the mortal remains of major general Sir Henry White K.C.B. On 7th November 1822. he served in the Bengal Army. A distinguished officer for a period of fifty years. The judicious position taken by his division in the attack on Agra which accelerated it's fall and the reduction of the strong hill fort of Gwalion by siege are proofs of zeal and military skill which do honour the memory of a soldier."

This is the stuff of novels and Hollywood films.

Another stone records:


" Near this place lies the body of Roger Elletson Esquire late lieutenant Governor of His Majesties land of Jamaica who after having borne a very long and painful and lingering illness with the utmost Christian Patience and Fortitude was by the goodness of his creator released from his sufferings at this place on November the 28th 1775 aged 48."

He must have promoted,encouraged and taken profits from slavery. A wealthy man indeed.

And another interesting inscription reads:

" Near this place lyeth the body of Jacob Bosanquet of the City of London Esquire. A truly good and honest man. A tender husband. Affectionate father. And faithful friend. Not more industrious in acquiring a fortune than generous in dispensing it. Thus happily furnished with every social virtue he lived beloved and died lamented on the 9th day of June 1767 and in the 54th year of his age."

I was nearly crying myself with that one. He was so perfect. He was obviously great at a party with all his ,"social virtues," and he acquired a fortune. I wonder how?

The slave trade in Britain and the British Empire was not abolished until 1807 and slavery itself was not abolished until 1833.

Links to information about:

 Jacob Bosanquet: 

https://www.bathabbeymemorials.org.uk/person/bosanquet-jacob

Sir Henry White: 

https://www.bathabbeymemorials.org.uk/person/white-henry

Roger Elletson Esquire: 

https://discovery-cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/c/F67604

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Hope_Elletson

A Bath Front Door

Number 17 The Circus.

Thomas Gainsborough lived here.

Mr and Mrs Andrews. Although this portrait was not painted during Gainsborough's time in Bath it does show that perhaps, he was a landscape artist at heart.

Gainsborough's two daughters, Mary and Margaret. They skipped up to that front door.

Mrs Philip Thickness painted in Gainsborough's Bath studio.

Ignatius Sancho painted in Bath in 1760. This one is obviously unusual because it shows a slave or perhaps a freedman.His master thought so highly of Ignatius, he payed for his portrait to be painted. Much of 18th century wealth was derived from the sugar plantations and hence, slavery. Many of the wealthy of Bath would have been slave owners and they would have had black servants.

The Byam family painted in Bath in 1762. Their wealth came from the sugar plantations.

A BATH FRONT DOOR

This front door is number 17, The Circus, Bath. Approaching, The Circus, are three roads, Gay Street from the south, where Jane Austen lived for a short while, Bennet Street from the North East, which leads to The Upper Assembly Rooms and Brock Street to the North West which leads to the Royal Crescent. These three roads enter The Circus, dividing this circular road exactly into thirds. Number 17 is in the northern third and is near the entrance to Bennett Street.

It’s situation could not be closer to and was indeed part of the elite residences of Bath in the 18th century. It is also within a minutes walk of The Upper Assembly Rooms where the bright young things of the 18th century and some not so young, danced, gambled, flirted, paraded and generally made a show of themselves. These beautiful young things had time on their hands and many had money to spend.

The resident of number 17 The Circus between 1759 and 1768 was there to take advantage of this situation. He was Thomas Gainsborough an up and coming portrait artist.

Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk in May 1727 and he was the son of a cloth merchant.He had a natural talent for drawing and painting and when he was 13 years old he was sent to London to study drawing and etching under the French engraver Hubert Gravelot. In London, Gainsborough, met William Hogarth and Francis Hayman.

In 1746 he married Margaret Burr   and around 1749 Gainsborough returned to Suffolk where he lived for the next ten years.. Here he painted the portraits of the local, wealthy farm owners and gentry. He was able to make a good living. They  had two daughters  Mary (1750-1826) and Margaret (1752- 1820). However Thomas Gainsborough was ambitious. 

In 1759 he moved to number 17 The Circus in Bath. He was attracted by the possibilities of expensive commissions that the society of Bath could offer.
His sitters were authors, actors and members of high society. In 1768 he was elected a founder member of the Royal Academy.

In 1774 he moved to London where he set up a studio in Pall Mall. In 1780 he was commissioned to paint the portraits of George III and Queen Charlotte and he became a royal favourite causing a rivalry between himself and Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Thomas Gainsborough always claimed that he preferred painting landscapes but the portraits were far more lucrative. In one of his most famous paintings , Mr and Mrs Andrews, he has caught this rich couple displaying their relaxed attitude and sense of elite power and authority, but he has pushed them over to the left of the picture and behind and to the right of them he has depicted the beautiful landscape and vast acres they owned and ruled over. I am sure the couple were very happy with the display of their wealth, authority and property.

Returning to the picture of the front door in, The Circus. On those stone flags Thomas Gainsborough, his wife and two daughters undoubtedly trod but think of the fine and beautiful ladies and elegant gentlemen, dripping in wealth and finery, who stepped that way too. The hand on the doorknocker and the sedate deportment as they crossed the threshold.